Aboriginal homelands vulnerable to land grab, as Northern Territory Intervention is widened
As part of the 2007 “intervention” legislation, Aboriginal land granted under the 1976 Land Rights Act was compulsorily acquired by the government through five-year leases. These will be replaced with “voluntary” forty-year leases that remove all previous restrictions on how town camp and “Community Living” land could be used.
Over the past four years the government has attempted to press local communities to sign long-term leases by cutting funds for essential services to the homeland communities.
Australia: Labor to extend NT “intervention” for a decade, World Socialist Website, By Susan Allan, 12 December 2011 The Labor government of Prime Minister Julia Gillard is intensifying its social austerity cutbacks with a raft of proposed new laws that continue the Northern Territory (NT) “intervention” for another ten years and expand its punitive measures to include all welfare recipients, indigenous and non-indigenous alike, Australia-wide. Continue reading
Australia participating in 23 States monitoring radiation in Pacific Ocean
Considerable volumes of radioactive contaminated water entered and
polluted the Pacific Ocean following the March 11 Nuclear accident. It
raised concern among countries in the Pacific region that radiation
releases may reach and damage coastal zones with possible consequences
for communities and economies.
IAEA Project To Monitor Radioactive Substances In Pacific Ocean Region (RTTNews) 13 Dec 11 – The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is implementing a Technical Cooperation (TC) Project for countries
throughout the Pacific Ocean region to monitor radioactive substances in the marine environment in the wake of the release of radioactive particles into the Pacific from the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan. Continue reading
Former Australian Liberal Prime Minister condemns sale of uranium to India
A reason India wants access to nuclear trade including uranium is precisely to further its nuclear proliferation. Senior Indian military leaders have publicly said so…..
India reserves the right to classify future reactors as civilian or military. It was not required in return to commit to significant positive measures – indeed, it has made no nuclear disarmament commitments, it has not ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
Why Gillard’s uranium-to-India policy is dangerously wrong, SMH Malcolm Fraser, December 12, 2011 Canberra’s abject submission to US pressure is shameful. ON SELLING uranium to India, Julia Gillard is wrong, dead wrong. Ramming the policy change through a deeply divided ALP national conference last weekend was not smart politics, but a failure of leadership.
The unequivocal longer-term consequences of this policy backflip are aggravating India’s nuclear arms race with Pakistan and eroding the already failing brakes on proliferation of nuclear weapons. A nuclear war between India and Pakistan is not some theoretical possibility, but a real and growing danger. …. Continue reading
Red Cross and Red Crescent gaining international support towards a Nuclear Weapons Convention
Since 1945, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement have consistently voiced deep concerns about these weapons of mass destruction and the need for the prohibition of their use. Its role in developing the International Humanitarian Law led to the creation of the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions, the universal rules of war, in 1977. As many as 194 nations of the world, including Australia, have ratified the four Geneva Conventions.
RED CROSS MOVEMENT WANTS NUKES ABOLISHED By Neena Bhandari IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis, 10 Dec 11 SYDNEY – Even as Australia’s ruling Labour revoked early December its long standing party policy banning uranium sales to India and Pakistan was swift to stake its claim too, the disarmament movement received a boost with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement adopting a resolution to work towards a legally binding global convention on nuclear abolition.
The Australian Red Cross (ARC) had worked with the Japanese and Norwegian Red Cross to draft the resolution early 2011, which was passed in Geneva on November 26. The decision to support the initiative was taken by the Council of Delegates of the Movement comprising representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross(ICRC), the 187 Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies and the International Federation.
“We were overwhelmed by our colleagues in a range of countries from Iran, Jordan and Lebanon to Mozambique, Malaysia and Samoa amongst others, who co-sponsored and supported the Red Cross Movement’s resolution to urge governments to never use these horrible weapons again. It shows that the resolution has traction and there is a global sense that the Red Cross Movement needs to speak out on this vital issue of nuclear abolition,” ARC’s Head of International Law and Principles, Dr Helen Durham, told IDN. Continue reading
NSW Labor opposes uranium mining, Liberal government discussing it
Labor Opposition says NSW uranium ban should stay Big Pond News, 10 Dec 11 The NSW opposition has slammed any move to lift the state’s ban on uranium mining, saying nobody wants a uranium mine in their backyard.
During a question and answer session at the Lowy Institute in Sydney on Friday night, Premier Barry O’Farrell opened the door to the possibility of allowing uranium exploration and mining in NSW…..http://bigpondnews.com/articles/TopStories/2011/12/10/Oppn_says_NSW_uranium_ban_should_stay_695152.html
Australia wants uranium money – never mind that it goes to nuclear weapons
states – the U.S., U.K., China, France, Russia – although not one of them takes seriously its obligation under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to pursue disarmament in good faith.
policy and binding Labor platform policy. That’s pretty low. Continue reading
Australia backing India for U.N. Security Council, despite India’s nuclear weapons boom
Can you believe it? Australia is now likely to lose its bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council, because it has decided to disregard India’s nuclear militarism – in particular, India’s refusal to sign the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty.
But hey, the Australian governmnet now has the gall to back India, even as India is ramping up its long range nuclear missile production, – to back India’s bid for a seat on the U.N. Security Council.
This is likely to be seen as two militaristic nations backing each other. – Christina Macpherson
Aus supports India’s claim for permanent UNSC seat, The Economic Times, 8 DEC, 2011, NEW DELHI: Australia supported India’s claim for a permanent seat in an expanded UN Security Council and said the decision of its ruling party on supplying Uranium to New Delhi has removed any “potential irritant” in their growing bilateral relationship.
On a three-day visit to India, Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith said the two countries have also agreed to look into prospects of enhancing practical military cooperation by holding bilateral naval exercises in future. … http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/11032000.cms
Australian Capital Territory legislates for solar feed in tariff
ACT passes large solar scheme, ABC News, By Kathleen Dyett December 09, 2011 The ACT Government has passed legislation to set-up Australia first large-scale solar feed-in tariff scheme. It will support renewable energy projects with a total capacity of up to 210 megawatts, with the first 40 megawatts to be allocated via an auction.
Large solar facilities that generate 2 megawatts or more will be the first to take part in the auction. The Liberals have slammed the scheme as costly and ineffective. But the Greens negotiated some changes before backing the bill.
Greens MLA Shane Rattenbury says he is happy with the outcome. “The two amendments we’ve agreed with the Government are to first of all ensure that the developments take place within the Australian capital region,” he said.
“The second is to open it up to systems above 200 kilowatts which will predominantly go on rooftops. “We want to make the most of the many rooftops around Canberra that could be used to generate clean, green energy.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-09/act-large-solar-tariff-scheme/3721884?section=act
Promoting renewable energy is the way to save the climate change debate
The heavy polluting industres know they cannot easily shift basic values, so they have undermined solar and wind at the next level of understanding, around jobs, prices and the electricity industry. In reaction to the statement, ‘Investing in renewable energy is good for the economy by creating jobs,’ 80 per cent were in agreement, and only 10 per cent in disagreement.After two years of campaigning for coal and against renewables, energy-intensive and heavy-polluting industry, along with certain media outlets and Opposition leader Tony Abbott, have done barely any damage to the perceived value of renewables as an industry.
Cleaning up the climate debate, Climate Spectator , 8 Dec 2011, Dan Cass A recent poll confirms what I have come to believe after watching the global warming issue for 20 years; renewable energy is the only way to save the debate about saving the planet. If the UN wants to make progress in the climate negotiations and closer to home, if Julia Gillard wants to win the next election, then the debate should be couched in terms of the tangible benefits of today’s solar and wind technologies.A poll by Essential Research, conducted during Australia’s recent carbon price negotiations, shows overwhelming public support for investment in solar and wind, and that this support might just win the politics of a carbon price.
detractors. Solar and wind have been politicised and companies need to step in and vigorously defend their interests. Continue reading
Solar photovoltaics booming on Australian homes
with high levels of irradiation nationwide, some argue that residential grid parity has arrived, on average, throughout Australia.
Australia’s 500,000 solar homes PV Magazine, 07. DECEMBER 2011 BY: JONATHAN GIFFORD In a report released yesterday at the UN climate negotiations in Durban, the Clean Energy Council of Australia has revealed that more than 500,000 homes in Australia feature photovoltaic systems. The report looked at renewable electricity generation across the board and revealed that power for around four million homes was produced in 2011. This means that the country is well on the way to meet its goal of producing 20 percent of its power through renewable sources by 2020.
The progress of photovoltaics was outstanding, Continue reading
Contrary to Ziggy Switkowski’s dreams, Australia must not sell uranium to Pakistan
Why Australia must not sell uranium to Pakistan, The Conversation, Peter Meyer 7 December 2011 
Predictably, Pakistan is seeking equal treatment with India on uranium sales from Australia……The activities of the AQ Khan network in selling equipment and technology to other states show Pakistan to have been an active proliferator (as Adrian Levy and Catherine Scott-Clark point out in their book, Deception: Pakistan, the United States and the Global Nuclear Weapons Conspiracy). And the military establishment under whose wings Khan – the father of Pakistan’s nuclear programme – operated still dominates public affairs in Pakistan, even under an elected government…..
Ziggy Switkowski spruiks for Australian uranium sales to Pakistan
Pakistan a potential uranium customer, says Australian nuclear expert, The Nation, 6 Dec 11 An Australian nuclear expert Dr Ziggy Switkowski said that Australia will have to consider selling uranium to Pakistan in the future after agreeing to export it to India…..over time, as they gain the confidence of the international community and the civilian nuclear program builds, they will need to be considered.”
Earlier, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Australia, Abdul Malik Abdullah said if Australia is willing to export uranium to India then it should sell it to Pakistan as well.
Abdullah said, “If Australia is going to lift the ban on a country which has not signed NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) it is much hoped that will also apply to Pakistan the same way.” Australia’s ruling Labour Party voted to overturn a decades-old ban on uranium sale to India, paving the way for Canberra to supply yellowcake to a nation outside the NPT.
First uranium to India, now military ties – Australia-India
India trip follows Australian ruling party’s uranium backflip, Radio Australia, December 7, 2011 Only days after the ruling Australian Labor Party ended its ban on possible uranium sales to India – Australia’s Defence Minister Stephen Smith will visit New Delhi and Mumbai for talks on greater military cooperation….
It’s Mr Smith’s fourth ministerial visit to India but his first in the Defence portfolio and he is emphatic that India’s nuclear neighbour and arch rival, Pakistan, will not be getting any Australian uranium.
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/connectasia/stories/201112/s3385778.htm
Labor Party transforming Australia into John Howard’s dream
Labor invokes ghost of Coalition past, SMH, Russell Marks December 6, 2011 The party’s long-standing ban on exporting uranium to India reflected a principled commitment to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, and was a major point of difference with the Liberal Party. Principle and point of difference are now gone Despite expectations that it would reverse the Howard government’s paternalistic and racially discriminatory Northern Territory intervention, Labor retained the basic frame and actually extended it to encompass additional welfare recipients……..
The Rudd-Gillard administration has not changed Australia. Rather, it is changing the Labor Party to fit into John Howard’s Australia, and is rushing headlong towards electoral irrelevance. Given that the Liberal Party will always be a better fit for Howard’s frame, why would anybody vote Labor? .. http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/labor-invokes-ghost-of-coalition-past-20111205-1oeq9.html#ixzz1flx91dNW
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/labor-invokes-ghost-of-coalition-past-20111205-1oeq9.html
Australia’s uranium policy dictated by Washington
the actual reason for the shift, [ to sell uranium to India] which was strongly insisted upon by the Obama administration in the lead-up to the US president’s visit, and which dovetails with Washington’s efforts to promote India as a regional
counterweight to China……..Rudd had incurred the wrath of Washington in 2007 by reversing a decision by the previous Howard Liberal government to approve uranium sales to India, following a similar decision by the George W. Bush administration.
Australian Labor Party to enforce dictates of Washington, financial markets, World Socialist Website By Mike Head 5 December 2011 At its 46th national conference last weekend, the Australian Labor Party (ALP) committed itself to imposing the “hard decisions” required by the Gillard government’s unconditional alignment with Washington’s increasingly aggressive confrontation with China, ……
It was the first ALP conference since the June 2010 backroom coup in which Labor’s factional bosses, who had reported their preparations to the US embassy, installed Julia Gillard as prime minister at the expense of her predecessor Kevin Rudd. The conference was also convened just two weeks after President Barack Obama’s visit to Australia and the region, in which he mounted a diplomatic and strategic offensive against China. Not a single delegate referred to these developments, yet they dominated the entire proceedings.
Rudd was removed above all because he had sought to alleviate the tensions between the US, the Australian ruling elite’s military protector, and China, Australian capitalism’s biggest market. Upon her appointment, Gillard immediately made clear her unconditional alignment with Washington. She also quickly struck a deal with the three biggest mining companies to drop the Rudd government’s proposed mining super-profits tax,…. Continue reading
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